OPINION: A Hamas lie repeated enough becomes incitement
No, the media didn’t throw the Molotov cocktail in Colorado. But it lit the match, writes Hen Mazzig
Hen Mazzig is a former lieutenant in the Coordination of Government Activities in the Terrorities. He shares his story with campuses and Jewish communities around the world.
When reports surfaced on Sunday and Tuesday of a supposed massacre near an aid distribution point in Gaza, every major news outlet – from CNN to Sky News to the BBC – ran with it. Their sources? Hamas-affiliated “health officials”. Their evidence? A viral video is already making the rounds online. Within minutes figures like Piers Morgan jumped in: “Horrific. This cannot go on.”
What must stop is this: a global media machine treating Hamas press releases as breaking news and influencers handing them viral megaphones. The result is a narrative that feels urgent and emotionally clear – but is often factually wrong, morally reckless, and mortally dangerous.
The footage from the alleged massacre wasn’t just wrong – it was fiction. Fabricated, misplaced, and passed off as fact. The BBC confirmed that it wasn’t even from the aid site in question. It was filmed in a different location, at a different time of day, with no proven connection to the incident. The Washington Post issued a lengthy correction, saying their reporting didn’t meet their own standards. The IDF, meanwhile, clarified that warning shots were fired half a kilometre away from the distribution zone, directed at suspects who ignored multiple warnings and moved toward Israeli soldiers. Remember: Gaza is an active, dangerous war zone. Aid distribution, the IDF confirmed, continued that day uninterrupted.
The facts were available. They just weren’t viral enough.
Instead, the public was fed outrage: innocent Palestinians gunned down while collecting food. A narrative that fits neatly into the worst assumptions about Jews and Israel. And once that narrative takes off, it doesn’t matter if it’s corrected. The damage is already done.
We saw that damage just days ago in Colorado, where a Jewish and Israeli group were attacked with Molotov cocktails by a man yelling, “How many children have you killed?” That question didn’t come from nowhere. It was shaped by weeks of disinformation – like the fabricated claim that 14,000 Gazan babies could starve in 48 hours. A lie that originated in activist channels but was laundered into credibility by mainstream outlets and echoed by high-profile voices.
A lie repeated enough becomes incitement. And incitement becomes attack.
And it doesn’t stop in Colorado. In Washington, D.C., a Jewish and Israeli couple was recently murdered in a targeted shooting. The attacker chanted “Free Palestine”. In Paris, a Holocaust memorial was defaced. In Melbourne, a synagogue was burnt down with Jews praying inside.
This violence isn’t a backlash because of a foreign conflict. It’s an intentional campaign. One that begins with a viral headline, is validated by someone with a blue checkmark, and ends in physical violence.
I’m Israeli, so you can believe when I say we Israelis are not afraid to criticise our country. This isn’t about shielding Israel from criticism. It’s about insisting on the bare minimum of journalistic responsibility during a war against a genocidal terror group that has openly weaponised civilian casualties for PR.
Every country must facilitate aid to civilians during war. But only Israel is accused of genocide for returning fire at militants using human shields. And no other people—except the Jews—are asked to justify our humanity every time a false headline spreads.
We don’t expect integrity from Hamas. But we should be able to expect it from global newsrooms and the public figures who claim to care about truth.
The social media landscape has given misinformation fatal new momentum. A story hits the internet. It confirms a bias. It travels the world before the facts catch up. And if those facts don’t fit the moral arc people want, they’re ignored entirely.
This is how antisemitic myths evolve now: not whispered in dark corners, but broadcast under bright studio lights. And every time a false story is left unchallenged, it builds the emotional scaffolding for real-world violence.
If we actually care about saving lives—Palestinian, Israeli, Jewish, or anyone else—we have to break this cycle. We have to raise the cost of getting it wrong. Because if the world keeps rewarding those who spread lies, every click, every repost, every unchallenged falsehood makes the next attack more likely. It’s not just the truth that dies. It’s people.
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